Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can work on a Touchstone anytime, but you can’t submit it until you have completed the unit’s Challenges. Once you’ve submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded and counted toward your final course score.
Touchstone 1.2: Write a Research Question, Thesis, and Outline
ASSIGNMENT: Following the Topic Selection Guidelines below, choose an argumentative topic to research. This will be your topic throughout the entire course, so the activities required for this assignment will provide the foundation for your future Touchstones. The topic for an argumentative research paper must be an arguable topic, meaning that it involves a stance that advocates for a concrete course of action and at least three supporting reasons which are defensible with credible sources. Additionally, it must take a stance that someone could hypothetically disagree with. You will need to take a firm position on the topic and use evidence and logic to support the position. Touchstone 1.2 includes a research question, a working thesis, a detailed outline, and a reflection on this pre-writing process.
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a Plagiarism Detected alert. Review this tutorial for more about plagiarism and the Plagiarism Detected alert: Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines.
- Topic Selection Guidelines
DIRECTIONS: You may choose any topic you wish as long as the stance is arguable and the supporting reasons are defensible with evidence. Your topic should be current, appropriate for an academic context and should have a focus suitable for a 6-8 page essay.
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any recycled work will be sent back with a 0, and you will be given one attempt to redo the Touchstone.
EXAMPLE THESIS STATEMENTS
1) Rather than ending at age eighteen, compulsory education in the United States should be lifelong in order to improve civic engagement, teach new skills, and stave off cognitive decline, thus extending life expectancies.
2) Local governments, businesses, and property owners should replace conventional grass lawns with clover lawns in order to create habitat for pollinators, save water, and reduce maintenance, which will also lower carbon emissions.
3) Colleges and universities should prioritize academic freedom for students because sensitive discussions on difficult topics are necessary for students to learn, confidence in their own expertise is essential to teachers being effective, and students should be prepared to be exposed to many different opinions.
- Research Guidelines
DIRECTIONS: Refer to the list below throughout the writing process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.
- Research Question and Working Thesis
Keep in mind: The research question and working thesis are the driving force behind your research and eventual argument.
❒ Your research question should be a single sentence, framed as an actionable statement that takes a clear position on the research question and includes three main supporting points for holding that position.
❒ Your working thesis should be a single focused sentence, framed as a statement that takes a clear position on the research question.
❒ Include your research question followed by your working thesis.
- Detailed Outline
Keep in mind: Your detailed outline provides a map of the argumentative research essay that you will write in Touchstone 3.2, including your key claims and the sources that support them. You might not have all seven required sources yet, and that is fine. The outline is a way to organize your essay and determine which areas (e.g. your sub-points) will require researched evidence as support.
❒ Headings: one for each paragraph with a brief label of the paragraph’s controlling idea(s).
❒ An introduction, at least five body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
❒ Introduction includes your working thesis.
❒ Body paragraphs should each have their own unique title and key points.
❒ At least one body paragraph is devoted to addressing counterarguments.
❒ Conclusion includes notes on your final thoughts.
❒ Subheadings: two to five for each paragraph, below each heading, indicating key points that support the controlling idea
❒ Sources: one to three for each paragraph, as relevant, indicating the support for the key points. Do not over-rely on any single source.
❒ For each source, include the author’s name and the idea or information relevant to your argument (e.g. “Lappé (2017) on mono-cropping corn/soy and production”). Link with a website if it is available.
- Reflection
❒ Have you displayed a clear understanding of the research activities?
❒ Have you answered all reflection questions thoughtfully and included insights, observations, and/or examples in all responses?
❒ Are your answers included on a separate page below the main assignment?
- Reflection Questions
DIRECTIONS: Below your assignment, include answers to all of the following reflection questions.
- Learning to conduct research is important because it is a skill you will use both in academia and in your professional life. It improves critical thinking and empowers you to find information for yourself. Consider the process of researching as a whole. What was the most challenging aspect of the process for you? (2-3 sentences)
- The working thesis statement is a proposed answer to your research question. It should clearly identify an arguable topic and take a position on one side of that topic. Analyze the effectiveness of your working thesis statement. (3-4 sentences)
- A detailed outline is an effective tool for laying out the progression of an argument. It allows you to consider the arrangement and organization of your ideas, as well as choose places to incorporate outside source materials. Review your detailed outline and summarize the argument you’ve presented. (3-4 sentences)
- You will use the same topic on three of the remaining Touchstones in this course. What kind of feedback would be helpful for you? What are specific questions you might have as you go deeper into the research process? (2-3 sentences)
- Rubric
| Advanced (100%) | Proficient (85%) | Acceptable (75%) | Needs Improvement (50%) | Non-Performance (0%) | |
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Research Question (10 points)
Pose a meaningful research question on an arguable topic. |
Constructs a precise and focused research question relative to a current an arguable topic. | ||||
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Working Thesis (10 points)
Propose a focused working thesis. |
Includes a working thesis that takes a well-articulated, clear, specific position on one side of an issue. | ||||
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Detailed Outline (15 points)
Present a detailed outline that includes coherent headings, subheadings, and source placement notes. |
Outline is thoroughly developed and clearly labeled with effective notes, such that the reader can easily see how the essay will build its argument; all necessary elements of the outline are present. | ||||
|
Style (5 points)
Establish a consistent, informative tone and make thoughtful stylistic choices. |
Demonstrates thoughtful and effective word choices, avoids redundancy and imprecise language, and uses a wide variety of sentence structures. | ||||
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Conventions (5 points)
Follow conventions for standard written English. |
There are only a few, if any, negligible errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and usage. | ||||
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Reflection (5 points)
Answer reflection questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. |
Demonstrates thoughtful reflection; consistently includes insights, observations, and/or examples in all responses, following or exceeding response length guidelines. |
- Requirements
The following requirements must be met for your submission to be graded:
- Double-space the outline and use one-inch margins.
- Use a readable 12-point font.
- All writing must be appropriate for an academic context.
- Composition must be original and written for this assignment.
- Use of generative chatbot artificial intelligence tools (ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Bard) in place of original writing is strictly prohibited for this assignment.
- Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.
- Submission must include your name, the name of the course, the date, and the title of your composition.
- Submission must include your research question, working thesis, outline, and reflection questions.
- Include all of the assignment components in a single file.
- Acceptable file formats include .doc and .docx.
- Additional Resources
The following resources will be helpful to you as you work on this assignment:
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Purdue Online Writing Lab’s APA Formatting and Style Guide
- This site includes a comprehensive overview of APA style, as well as individual pages with guidelines for specific citation types.
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Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style
- This page on the official APA website addresses common questions related to APA formatting. The “References,” “Punctuation,” and “Grammar and Writing Style” sections will be the most useful to your work in this course.
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APA Style: Quick Answers—References
- This page on the official APA Style website provides numerous examples of reference list formatting for various source types.
